Looking for inspiration to help you sail through the teenage years? If so, here are some of our favourite parent blogs to help you communicate with your tweens and teens as they blossom into young adults. Full of hints and tips, these bloggers share the good, bad and ugly of life with teens…

Parenting Teens

Are you struggling to communicate with your tweens and teens? If so, Parenting Teens mum Lisa has some tricks up her sleeve. The most important thing, she says, is to help your kids feel secure and loved – even when they’re at their most uncooperative. Insisting on one shared meal a day is a good move, Lisa says: “It’s lovely sitting together and all chatting together. Even if your tween is reluctant to join in, stick with it.”

For more ways to keep the parent/teen channels open, Lisa has some awesome conversation starters you might like to try – like this killer question: “If we changed places for one day, what would you do?” For more ice breakers, check out Lisa’s excellent blog post – 10 fun questions to ask your teenager to get the conversation started.

Mother of Teenagers

Knowing when to leave your teens to fight their own battles and when to intervene is one of the hardest judgement calls a parent can make. You feel helpless, says mum, Jo of Mother of Teenagers. But if you intervene, you stifle your child’s quest for independence. How do you know you made the right call? When your daughter comes back stronger and shows her “frenemy” for what she was – “weak”.

If you’re a parent in the process of learning to give up parental control as your child begins to grow up, you’ve come to the right place. Jo says the trick is to “step back but not away, to show an interest and to be involved without controlling.” It just takes a bit of practise to get used to!

Slummy Single Mummy

“When I mention TikTok to anyone over the age of about 30, the usual response is a kind of blank stare.” If you’re unsure about TikTok, this guide for parents by Jo, aka the Slummy Single Mummy, tells you all you need to know, including a rundown of the all-important privacy features. It’s a post every parent should read.

Here you’ll find plenty of insight into life as a mum to teens, but there’s a lot more than that to keep you interested: money, food, interiors and travel are just some of the other topics up for discussion. You’ll love Jo’s “rant” about encroaching middle-age: “As basically content as I might be in a day to day sense, I still can’t help but feel somehow at sea.” We’re with you on that one Jo!

Mum of Three World

“I’m lucky that this issue only reared its ugly head in 6th form,” says Sarah from Mum of Three World. Dealing with the aftermath of boozy teen parties when you’re a teetotaler and suffer from emetophobia – the irrational fear of vomiting – presents something of a challenge! Sarah counsels her kids on the dangers of drinking and tries to ration their intake, but in the end – as her story proves – all you can really do is keep your phone switched on and hope for the best.

With boys aged 18 and 16, and a 14-year-old daughter, Sarah’s posts cover the full range of teenagerhood. Wondering how to help your kids deal with rejection? Check out Sarah’s post on her daughter’s ballet school disappointment. This “slightly stressed-out married mum to three amazing, tiresome, funny, irritating, clever teenagers” is well worth a follow.

Stressy Mummy

“Erm, no, that ain’t happening,” said Nikki, aka Stressy Mummy when her 16-year-old son announced his summer holiday plans – a week in Cornwall with his mates. How old is old enough in your opinion? Nikki says her son is fairly mature, but still a year or so off the level needed for safe independent travel. When and how much to loosen the reins is a tough judgement call for all parents – Nikki’s thoughts are worth checking out.

A mum of four, wife, teacher, writer and drinker of many cups of tea, Nikki blogs from experience, having piloted one son to adulthood already – now for the other two sons and her tween daughter. Need to get up super early to stay ahead of the kids? Check out Nikki’s tips early morning starters – we like the one about giving yourself a little treat to look forward to!

Liberty on the Lighter Side

Teaching a teen to drive? Liberty of Liberty on the Lighter Side says riding shotgun while her daughter practised her road skills was a terrifying ordeal – especially at roundabouts: “Happily the miraculous confluence of her keeping the car moving forward, combined with sufficient distance between our vehicles, ensured that we lived to see another day.” It’s lucky she can see the funny side.

For a parenting blog that’s lighthearted, warm and wise, Liberty on the Lighter Side is hard to beat. Packed full of personal anecdotes, there’s plenty here to keep you informed and entertained. Looking for board games for tweens and teens? Liberty has it covered.

Who’s the Mummy?

What happens when your teen is captured on video breaking the rules and the video gets shared? Embarrassment, a trip to the headmaster’s office, and a lesson learned the hard way. But we expect kids to make mistakes, don’t we, writes Sally of Who’s the Mummy? “What happens on Snapchat definitely doesn’t always stay on Snapchat, but if you’re lucky, teenagers will learn that lesson early, and only need to learn it once.”

This is great stuff from parent blogger Sally Whittle – if you’re looking for a down to earth, realistic portrait of life as a single mum with a teen daughter, you’ve come to the right place. Wondering how to stop your teen’s “small gathering” running out of control? Sally has learned a thing or two about teen parties…

Scottish Mum

When it comes to your kids and social media, don’t bury your head in the sand – that’s the message from Lesley over at Scottish Mum: “Kids can negotiate parental controls, history deletion and sneaking on with smartphones on friends’ wi-fi systems.” The chances are, if you refuse to allow your kids to access social media, they’ll find another way – far better, she says, to teach kids to be safe online.

You’ll find a good measure of common sense parenting at Scottish Mum, and plenty more besides, especially if your young adults are eating you out of house and home! Looking for a summer dessert? You’ll love this raw strawberry and banana ice cream recipe – so simple but utterly delicious.

Talking to Teenagers

Did you know that “the giants of the tech industry limit their children’s interaction on devices”? They do, says child and adolescent counsellor, Helen Harvey of Talking to Teenagers. She likens allowing your kids access to unrestricted social media as akin to leaving the front door open so that anyone can walk up your stairs and enter your child’s bedroom and fill their head with unhealthy ideas.

So what should you do? Limit screen time and spend time with your teens, says Helen. If you’re looking for evidence based, practical parenting advice, Talking to Teenagers is a great place to start. Do you have a tween who loves YouTube? Read Helen’s post.

We hope you’ve enjoyed our selection of great parenting blogs for mums and dads with tweens and teens. Have we missed one of your favourite blogs? Drop us a line to let us know so we can feature it another time. Just head over to our Facebook or Twitter pages and drop us a line.

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